A few things to take note of for your wedding day

Shine Pics will do their best to capture everyone who belongs to your party. However we understand the importance of giving people the opportunity to enjoy the day socialising and not having a camera in their face all the time. It is however your responsibility to make sure your guests are aware that the photographer/videographer is hired for the event and are willing to have their photos taken. Your party (all essential people of your party) must come forward to have their photos/footage taken on the day). Shine Pics will not be responsible for absence of certain people’s photos/footage if they don’t wish to pose or were unavailable when group/individual photos/footage were taken.

We will always request a nominated person from your party to help arrange your groups, but we will never force anyone to take a picture that does not want to be in one.

If you want to make sure all your guests’ photos are taken and in combinations you desire please provide a list of such combinations as a response to the email we send you in the month prior to your wedding.

We will endeavour to cover all aspects of your event. However if there is any special footage you want us to cover please specify it in writing/text/email/facebook message.

Venue/locations:

At Shine Pics we will try and make your photos/footage as attractive as possible. The more picturesque location/venue the more beautiful the photos/footage will be. We, however, can only capture what’s there so please accept that if you are having your wedding/event in a busy hotel/pub/club etc full of other guests unrelated to your party, or if the venue has no grounds, gardens, has wet floor or exit signs, guests suitcase & so on – this will be the backdrop for your pictures. We will try our best to avoid having those unsightly things in your pictures/footage but they are not always possible to avoid.

Audio

For best results, speech need to be loud & clear, we do not bring big boom mics to hang all over the room, we work with a professional quality microphone on the camera, but it is limited to what it can capture. If you are very soft spoken or timid, this is what it will hear, if there are children crying in the background, then the mic will pic this up, if the venue provides a PA but its too loud or scratchy, this is what we will pick up. If you prefer, you can record your vows separately and send them to us and we will include them in your wedding video. If not, we can only use what we have. As a general rule, due to the quality of the audio, we do not include any audio in our finished wedding videos and only kept with prior requests.

Lighting

Most venues create dim/intimate lighting for the ceremonies and receptions. While this can be pleasant to the eye – its very difficult to cope with from the point of view of photography/videography. In most cases the use of flash/external lighting is absolutely necessary. Please understand that in order to re-create ambient soft day light we’d need to install multiple lights/flash kits in multiple points of your venue which for many reasons is not feasible. We realise that the flash can be disruptive or unflattering but if we don’t use it you will like the pictures/footage even less than if we do. The same applies to very sunny days. We cannot correct overexposure caused by very bright sun. We will always try and find shade but if its unavailable (like on the beach or any other open space) then your photos/footage will naturally be a lot more exposed than in the shade. If you make a decision not to go outside for your pictures/footage then we will have no option but to use lighting aids.

How you look on pictures/footage

Shine Pics will endeavour to take the most flattering pictures/footage but please understand that our opinion is subjective –and so is yours. Shine Pics will not be responsible if you find yourself looking “too fat, too skinny, stooping, your hair is a mess or is flying in the wind, your bust is too revealed”, you “don’t like the way you walk or sit”, “ you look too nervous, scared, drunk” etc“ your legs, bottom, stomach, arms, chin etc are too fat”. Please don’t expect us to see you the way you see yourself and we will not “Photoshop” what you consider your flaws.

Time keeping

More often than not the weddings/events run late, things don’t always go according to plan, get delayed and so on which means that we don’t get enough time to take the necessary photos/footage. Group pictures can be very tricky trying to fit everyone in, align symmetrically and make sure everyone’s, seen and is looking in the camera at the same time. This takes time and if we are rushed because people are “cold”, “tired” or “want to get a drink” or are “just not picture people” and want be done with shooting as soon as possible, we might be unable to provide perfectly structured footage under pressure.

Package Selection/Deposits

Packages are not interchangeable or down-gradable, when you select a package, we allocate the relevant team for your bookling, for example, if you choose a photography and videography all day package, we close this day off in our diary so as not to double book and both our photographer and videographer are no longer available for any other bookings. If you choose a hen party with cocktail waiter and massage therapist, we reserve these outside parties and pay deposits to them to confirm. Once we remove the date from our calendar, we are no longer able to take bookings on it. You cannot use your deposit in lieu of other services or to change your booked service. If you choose to downgrade the package, you will still be liable for the full package price that was invoiced. Cancellation within 90 days of booking/event date will result in loss of all funds paid to-date if paying by Direct debit. If a deposit has been paid, the deposit will be used to make up a short-fall and a minimum of 75% of the total will still be due. Cancellation within 60 days of the date will be subject to zero refund and 100% of the invoice due.

In the event of payments being paid by Direct Debit and the package being cancelled before the minimum deposit has been reached, the client shall be liable for the remainder of the deposit amount.

What to Expect

We are completely open with what you can expect in your wedding photos and video. We are truly blessed to have near perfect reviews & feedback from couples and guests alike. What this allows us, uniquely to do, is upload almost all of the weddings we do to our website and social platforms (accept Facebook where we upload a handful from each wedding). What this gives you is a very clear idea of what we do and how we do it as well as how our couples re-act to the results along with family & friends. We dont just upload the “great” pics from the day or a small selection, which every wedding will have. By uploading everything, you have the full day to look at and we encourage you to do this, so that you are 100% happy with what you will get, even before you book us.

A typical all day photo/video package

Preparations

Bride: Arrive at your address around an hour before the ceremony — (What we always try and capture is last minute touches, the girls together sharing a drink, sitting together, chatting, stuff that keeps its fun and natural looking, not so much a staged environment, then pics of everyone once they are dressed, you fixing your daddy’s tie/flowers, him seeing you for the first time, your mum and you)

Groom (Where booked): If the Groom lives within 5 minutes of the bride, we are happy to include preps for him as well, we will add an extra 15 minutes on for this, but bear in mind, it leaves less time with the bride. We can add full Grooms preps as an option at £50 if required.  Grooms preps are strictly subject to time & distance.

Leave your house at least 10 minutes before you leave at the latest (Assumes ceremony is within 5 miles)

Ceremony

Setup at Church/Venue for the ceremony (10 – 15 min before ceremony start)

Ceremony Start – Full Video Recording (depending on what is allowed by the priest/registrar), some don’t allow movement at all or have restrictions on where we can move and when. Snippets of Ceremony, Guests to be used in the final video.

Religious Service normally around an hour, Civil Service normally 30-40 minutes.

Possibly pics outside Ceremony venue (weather & guests dependant)

Reception Photos

If Ceremony/Reception different, leave for Reception (stop on route for photos/video if required)

Arrive at Venue generally 1 – 3 hours before the meal call (depends on if we stop, distance etc). If we are not stopping or going somewhere else for photos, please allow at least 90 minutes at the venue to capture your pics – Capture more footage, guests, family, bridal parties etc.

Meal

Photo/Video recording of speeches in full and snippets of guests to be used for video.

Time for us to have a rest and eat.

Cake Cutting generally an hour and a half after meal starts (photos/video)

Desert served.

Evening Dance

The room cleared/DJ/Band Setup (allow 45-120 minutes)

During this time, we are available to take any guests pictures that request, they are all provided free of charge in your gallery, so please let them know.

First Dance – Photos and video. (if you have something special planned, please let us know and we will record it in full with audio)

Father/Daughter Mother/Son Dances

Bridal Party

1 song with guests.

Goodbye

Generally, we are at around 21:30 – 22:00 and its time to say goodbye.

* Length of video & quantity of photos is subject to the amount of usable footage we can get. Generally, this is related to the wedding party and guests willingness to do things. Also, the weather sometimes means we cannot go outside so will restrict what we can do. Our aim is quality over quantity.

* Our Wedding videos tend to be a bit longer than others on Youtube or Vimeo, this is because we try and include as much of your day with a variety and not just the ceremony and speeches. This does mean there is a lot more work in the editing process and as such we allow a month to supply the video. The photos will generally be supplied within a few days of the wedding.